POST TRAUMATIC STRESS

Post Traumatic Stress

Post Traumatic Stress

Introduction

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is an anxiety type of disorder that can occurs after a person witnesses or experiences an extremely unpleasant of traumatic event, which had involved a threat of injury or death. It is an extremely unstable state of mind, which not only disturbs the person undergoing this disorder, but also adversely affects the people around him (Hudek, 1994). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is classified primarily as anxiety disorder, but can also lead to depression, emotional numbness and memory disturbances in which the patient feels as if reliving the trauma. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder may occur immediately after a major trauma, or take more than 6 months after the event. In some cases, the people are plunged into this disorder due to something they see, hear or even smell that relates or reminds them of the original event. Some people have a more prolonged disease that can last for many years (Gersons & Carlier, 1992).

Stress is naturally existing forces from the outside or the inside of a person that affect the person dramatically. The individual responds to stress in ways that affect the individual as well as their environment (Bryant, Harvey & Dang, 1998). Some individuals are mentally strong and can cope up with the stressors, while others fall prey of the tensions and sink into Post Traumatic Stress Disorders. Due to the excessive building up of stress in modern lives, people often believe that stress is an extremely negative experience, but the biological perspective views stress as being purely neutral, negative, or positive type of experiences (Gersons & Carlier, 1992).

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an anxiety disorder that usually occurs after having suffered or witnessed a highly traumatic event (assault, rape, assault, kidnapping, accident, fatal illness, etc.),

This experience can cause emotional learning is to protect the individual against new similar situations, but which will cause a range of symptoms grouped into three types: remembrance (or reliving), physiological hyper-arousal and avoidance (with blunted affect) (Gersons & Carlier, 1992). The images of the trauma have been recorded in an indelible emotional memory and re-experience again and again with great vividness, against their will, despite the passage of time, with great detail, as if it were happening again (flashback) (Bryant, Harvey & Dang, 1998).

These cognitive processes decrease the ability of concentration, memory, decision making, and strong emotional reactions, with intense anxiety answers (worry, fear, pain, lack of control, high physiological arousal, avoidance of situations related, etc.) irritability, anger, sadness, guilt and other negative emotions (Gersons & Carlier, 1992). This creates a large physiological arousal; a tremendous psychological distress accompanied by a continuous hyper-vigilance keeps the stress reaction, as if he were to repeat the traumatic situation currently (Bryant, Harvey & Dang, 1998).

Apart from that, it may also recur at any time, causing fatigue, strong emotions, irrational thinking, and attention bias (all the while thinking the same thing). In addition, it can be considered to be an interpretive bias (previously neutral stimulus now ...